Between Confederation in 1867 and the abolishment of capital punishment in 1976, it is estimated that approximately 705 people were executed in Canada, including 11 women. Although the death penalty could be applied to those convicted of the crimes of rape, murder, or treason, only Louis Riel — executed for treason in 1885 — was executed for a crime other than murder. In 1961, John Diefenbaker's Tories changed the criminal code such that only the crimes of capital murder — defined as murder that was planned and deliberate, and which occurred during certain acts of violence — and the murder of prison wardens or police officers were punishable by hanging.

In December of 1962, despite gathered protesters and last minute appeals for clemency, Carter and Turpin were escorted down the corridor of death row in Toronto's Don Jail and into infamy. In 1967 the criminal code was changed so that only the murder of police officers or prison guards was punishable by death, and with the 1976 decision of Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal government to completely abolish the death penalty, Carter and Turpin's place in history was cemented.